System and method for handling data transfers

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for managing data transfers between a secure location and a less secure location. A data transfer checker operating on a mobile device determines whether an attempted data transfer between two locations is permitted. If it is not permitted, then the data transfer is prevented and the user may be notified of the data transfer prevention.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of commonly assignedU.S. Provisional Application having Ser. No. 60/567,293, filed on Apr.30, 2004, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HANDLING DATA TRANSFERS,”which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

This document relates generally to the field of communications, and inparticular to handling data transfers that involve mobile wirelesscommunications devices.

2. Description of the Related Art

Some companies or governments have different types of networks based ondifferent levels of security. Some of the networks are more secure thanothers and provide additional levels of security, as well as differentprocedures for using that network. It is a security concern for data tomove between the networks, specifically from a more secure network to aweaker network. An additional problem is how to prevent a maliciousapplication from siphoning data from inside a corporation's firewall tooutside the firewall.

For example the government may have a secret network and a non-secretnetwork. The workstations on the secret network may not even beconnected to the non-secret network to explicitly prevent datasiphoning. To prevent data siphoning between these networks for mobilecommunications, the government would have to deploy two separate PDAs toeach employee that uses both of the networks. This is a costly approach.

As another example, an organization may wish to deploy handhelds toemployees, which connect to their corporate network as well as theirpersonal (home) email accounts. It would be detrimental for an employeeto siphon data between their corporate secure network to their personalaccounts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview of an example communication system in which awireless communication device may be used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a further example communication systemincluding multiple networks and multiple mobile communication devices.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are block diagrams depicting management of data transfersbetween a secure location and a less secure location.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting an IT administrator providing datatransfer settings to a mobile device.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are flowcharts depicting a data transfer operationalscenario.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram depicting a data transfer prevention featurewherein data forwarding between service books is prevented.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram depicting a data transfer prevention featurewherein cut/copy/paste operations are disabled for applications on amobile device.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram depicting a data transfer prevention featurewherein Inter-Process Communication (IPC) are disabled betweenapplications operating on a mobile device.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example mobile device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview of an example communication system in which awireless communication device may be used. One skilled in the art willappreciate that there may be many different topologies, but the systemshown in FIG. 1 helps demonstrate the operation of the encoded messageprocessing systems and methods described in the present application.There may also be many message senders and recipients. The simple systemshown in FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only, and shows perhaps themost prevalent Internet e-mail environment where security is notgenerally used.

FIG. 1 shows an e-mail sender 10, the Internet 20, a message serversystem 40, a wireless gateway 85, wireless infrastructure 90, a wirelessnetwork 105 and a mobile communication device 100.

An e-mail sender system 10 may, for example, be connected to an ISP(Internet Service Provider) on which a user of the system 10 has anaccount, located within a company, possibly connected to a local areanetwork (LAN), and connected to the Internet 20, or connected to theInternet 20 through a large ASP (application service provider) such asAmerica Online (AOL). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thesystems shown in FIG. 1 may instead be connected to a wide area network(WAN) other than the Internet, although e-mail transfers are commonlyaccomplished through Internet-connected arrangements as shown in FIG. 1.

The message server 40 may be implemented, for example, on a networkcomputer within the firewall of a corporation, a computer within an ISPor ASP system or the like, and acts as the main interface for e-mailexchange over the Internet 20. Although other messaging systems mightnot require a message server system 40, a mobile device 100 configuredfor receiving and possibly sending e-mail will normally be associatedwith an account on a message server. Perhaps the two most common messageservers are Microsoft Exchange™ and Lotus Domino™. These products areoften used in conjunction with Internet mail routers that route anddeliver mail. These intermediate components are not shown in FIG. 1, asthey do not directly play a role in the secure message processingdescribed below. Message servers such as server 40 typically extendbeyond just e-mail sending and receiving; they also include dynamicdatabase storage engines that have predefined database formats for datalike calendars, to-do lists, task lists, e-mail and documentation.

The wireless gateway 85 and infrastructure 90 provide a link between theInternet 20 and wireless network 105. The wireless infrastructure 90determines the most likely network for locating a given user and tracksthe user as they roam between countries or networks. A message is thendelivered to the mobile device 100 via wireless transmission, typicallyat a radio frequency (RF), from a base station in the wireless network105 to the mobile device 100. The particular network 105 may bevirtually any wireless network over which messages may be exchanged witha mobile communication device.

As shown in FIG. 1, a composed e-mail message 15 is sent by the e-mailsender 10, located somewhere on the Internet 20. This message 15 isnormally fully in the clear and uses traditional Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP), RFC822 headers and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension(MIME) body parts to define the format of the mail message. Thesetechniques are all well known to those skilled in the art. The message15 arrives at the message server 40 and is normally stored in a messagestore. Most known messaging systems support a so-called “pull” messageaccess scheme, wherein the mobile device 100 must request that storedmessages be forwarded by the message server to the mobile device 100.Some systems provide for automatic routing of such messages which areaddressed using a specific e-mail address associated with the mobiledevice 100. In a preferred embodiment described in further detail below,messages addressed to a message server account associated with a hostsystem such as a home computer or office computer which belongs to theuser of a mobile device 100 are redirected from the message server 40 tothe mobile device 100 as they are received.

Regardless of the specific mechanism controlling the forwarding ofmessages to the mobile device 100, the message 15, or possibly atranslated or reformatted version thereof, is sent to the wirelessgateway 85. The wireless infrastructure 90 includes a series ofconnections to wireless network 105. These connections could beIntegrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Frame Relay or Ticonnections using the TCP/IP protocol used throughout the Internet. Asused herein, the term “wireless network” is intended to include threedifferent types of networks, those being (1) data-centric wirelessnetworks, (2) voice-centric wireless networks and (3) dual-mode networksthat can support both voice and data communications over the samephysical base stations. Combined dual-mode networks include, but are notlimited to, (1) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, (2) theGroupe Special Mobile or the Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM) and the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks, and (3)future third-generation (3G) networks like Enhanced Data-rates forGlobal Evolution (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems(UMTS). Some older examples of data-centric network include the Mobitex™Radio Network and the DataTAC™ Radio Network. Examples of oldervoice-centric data networks include Personal Communication Systems (PCS)networks like GSM, and TDMA systems.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a further example communication systemincluding multiple networks and multiple mobile communication devices.The system of FIG. 2 is substantially similar to the FIG. 1 system, butincludes a host system 30, a redirection program 45, a mobile devicecradle 65, a wireless virtual private network (VPN) router 75, anadditional wireless network 110 and multiple mobile communicationdevices 100. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, FIG. 2represents an overview of a sample network topology. Although theencoded message processing systems and methods described herein may beapplied to networks having many different topologies, the network ofFIG. 2 is useful in understanding an automatic e-mail redirection systemmentioned briefly above.

The central host system 30 will typically be a corporate office or otherLAN, but may instead be a home office computer or some other privatesystem where mail messages are being exchanged. Within the host system30 is the message server 40, running on some computer within thefirewall of the host system, that acts as the main interface for thehost system to exchange e-mail with the Internet 20. In the system ofFIG. 2, the redirection program 45 enables redirection of data itemsfrom the server 40 to a mobile communication device 100. Although theredirection program 45 is shown to reside on the same machine as themessage server 40 for ease of presentation, there is no requirement thatit must reside on the message server. The redirection program 45 and themessage server 40 are designed to co-operate and interact to allow thepushing of information to mobile devices 100. In this installation, theredirection program 45 takes confidential and non-confidential corporateinformation for a specific user and redirects it out through thecorporate firewall to mobile devices 100. A more detailed description ofthe redirection software 45 may be found in the commonly assigned U.S.Pat. No. 6,219,694 (“the '694 patent”), entitled “System and Method forPushing Information From A Host System To A Mobile Data CommunicationDevice Having A Shared Electronic Address”, and issued to the assigneeof the instant application on Apr. 17, 2001 which is hereby incorporatedinto the present application by reference. This push technique may use awireless friendly encoding, compression and encryption technique todeliver all information to a mobile device, thus effectively extendingthe security firewall to include each mobile device 100 associated withthe host system 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, there may be many alternative paths for gettinginformation to the mobile device 100. One method for loading informationonto the mobile device 100 is through a port designated 50, using adevice cradle 65. This method tends to be useful for bulk informationupdates often performed at initialization of a mobile device 100 withthe host system 30 or a computer 35 within the system 30. The other mainmethod for data exchange is over-the-air using wireless networks todeliver the information. As shown in FIG. 2, this may be accomplishedthrough a wireless VPN router 75 or through a traditional Internetconnection 95, to a wireless gateway 85 and a wireless infrastructure90, as described above. The concept of a wireless VPN router 75 is newin the wireless industry and implies that a VPN connection could beestablished directly through a specific wireless network 110 to a mobiledevice 100. The possibility of using a wireless VPN router 75 has onlyrecently been available and could be used when the new Internet-Protocol(IP) Version 6 (IPV6) arrives into IP-based wireless networks. This newprotocol will provide enough IP addresses to dedicate an IP address toevery mobile device 100 and thus make it possible to push information toa mobile device 100 at any time. A principal advantage of using thiswireless VPN router 75 is that it could be an off-the-shelf VPNcomponent, thus it would not require a separate wireless gateway 85 andwireless infrastructure 90 to be used. A VPN connection would preferablybe a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP or User Datagram Protocol(UDP)/IP connection to deliver the messages directly to the mobiledevice 100. If a wireless VPN 75 is not available then a link 95 to theInternet 20 is the most common connection mechanism available and hasbeen described above.

In the automatic redirection system of FIG. 2, a composed e-mail message15 leaving the e-mail sender 10 arrives at the message server 40 and isredirected by the redirection program 45 to the mobile device 100. Asthis redirection takes place the message 15 is re-enveloped, asindicated at 80, and a possibly proprietary compression and encryptionalgorithm can then be applied to the original message 15. In this way,messages being read on the mobile device 100 are no less secure than ifthey were read on a desktop workstation such as 35 within the firewall.All messages exchanged between the redirection program 45 and the mobiledevice 100 preferably use this message repackaging technique. Anothergoal of this outer envelope is to maintain the addressing information ofthe original message except the sender's and the receiver's address.This allows reply messages to reach the appropriate destination, andalso allows the “from” field to reflect the mobile user's desktopaddress. Using the user's e-mail address from the mobile device 100allows the received message to appear as though the message originatedfrom the user's desktop system 35 rather than the mobile device 100.

With reference back to the port 50 and cradle 65 connectivity to themobile device 100, this connection path offers many advantages forenabling one time data exchange of large items. For those skilled in theart of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and synchronization, the mostcommon data exchanged over this link is Personal Information Management(PIM) data 55. When exchanged for the first time this data tends to belarge in quantity, bulky in nature and requires a large bandwidth to getloaded onto the mobile device 100 where it can be used on the road. Thisserial link may also be used for other purposes, including setting up aprivate security key 111 such as an S/MIME or PGP specific private key,the Certificate (Cert) of the user and their Certificate RevocationLists (CRLs) 60. The private key is preferably exchanged so that thedesktop 35 and mobile device 100 share one personality and one methodfor accessing all mail. The Cert and CRLs are normally exchanged oversuch a link because they represent a large amount of the data that isrequired by the device for S/MIME, PGP and other public key securitymethods.

FIG. 3 depicts a system wherein data transfers 230 between a securelocation 220 and a less secure location 240 is managed on a mobiledevice 100 by a data transfer checker 202. A data transfer checker 202can be implemented on a mobile device 100 as a software routine or inhardware or firmware. FIG. 4 provides several examples of locations 220and 240. For example, location 220 may be a top-secret or secure networkand location 240 may be an unrestricted network.

As another example, location 220 may be a first application that hasreceived sensitive or confidential information. An attempt to transferdata from the first application to a second application may be preventedby the data transfer checker 202 because if the data transfer issuccessful to the second application, then the second application mightbe used to disseminate the sensitive data to an unsecured location.

FIG. 5 depicts an IT (information technology) administrator 250 (or itsagent) providing data transfer criterion or settings 252 to a mobiledevice 100. The settings 252 can indicate what data transfers 230 arepermitted and which ones are not permitted. The settings 252 can bestored in a data store 204 located on the mobile device 100 for accessby a data transfer checker 202.

The IT administrator 250 can specify data transfer settings 252 to oneor more devices. The settings 252 may be provided to the mobile device100 over a network (or other data connection mechanism) in order toupdate the data store 204 on the mobile device 100. The mobile device100 can be pre-programmed with the settings and can be updated by the ITadministrator 250 or can have the initial settings provided by the ITadministrator 250.

This provides, among other things, companies with the capability tocustomize data transfer settings to suit their needs. Also, an ITadministrator 250 can provide the same settings to all mobile devices ofthe company, thereby ensuring that company mobile devices adhere to aconsistent IT policy.

An IT policy can be enforced upon mobile devices in many ways, such asthrough the approaches described in the following commonly assignedUnited States patent application which is hereby incorporated byreference: “System And Method Of Owner Control Of Electronic Devices”(Ser. No. 10/732,132 filed on Dec. 10, 2003). This document illustrateshow a user of the mobile device can be prevented from altering orerasing owner control information (e.g., data transfer settings 252)specified by an IT administrator 250.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a data transfer operational scenario 300. Atstep 302 in the operational scenario, data transfer settings can beprovided to one or more mobile devices by IT administration personnel. Acompany's IT policy can specify that many different datatransfer-related features can be enabled/disabled. As an illustration,the data transfer settings can enable/disable such security-relatedaspects associated with data transfers as the following:

-   -   whether data forwarding between service books should be allowed.    -   whether cut/copy/paste operations between applications should be        allowed.    -   whether applications should be prevented from opening an        internal and an external connection.    -   whether IPC (interprocess communication) should be allowed        between applications.        Using one or more of these features, the company can help ensure        that their private data is kept secure. The data transfer        settings are stored at step 304 in one or more data stores that        are located on the mobile device.

At step 306, there is an attempt in this operational scenario totransfer data from a first location to a second location. Step 310retrieves the data transfer settings, and decision step 312 examineswhether the data transfer should occur in view of the data transfersettings. If the data transfer should occur as determined by decisionstep 312, then the data transfer occurs between the first location andthe second location, and processing for this operational scenarioterminates at end block 320.

However, if decision step 312 determines that the data transfer shouldnot be allowed in view of the settings, then decision step 316determines whether the user should be notified that the data transfer isnot permitted. If the user is not to be notified (e.g., because thesettings do not allow a feedback message), then processing for thisoperational scenario terminates at end block 320. However, if the useris to be notified as determined by decision block 316, then anindication is provided at step 318 to the user that the data transfer isbeing prevented. Processing for this operational scenario terminates atend block 320.

It should be understood that similar to the other processing flowsdescribed herein, the steps and the order of the steps in the flowchartdescribed herein may be altered, modified and/or augmented and stillachieve the desired outcome.

FIG. 8 illustrates a data transfer prevention feature mentioned abovewherein data transfer 410 between services (400, 420) is prevented.Exemplary services comprise a company email service, a user's personale-mail service, and an instant messaging service. This data transferprevention feature allows the company to disable improperforwarding/replying between services. For example, if a user receives anemail message via a first service 400, the user is unable to forward itto another email account via a second service 420 (such as a personale-mail account of the user). Optionally, messages 440 that arrive via asource e-mail server 430 must be replied to or forwarded back throughthe same source e-mail server 430 from which the message 440 arrived.

FIG. 9 illustrates a data transfer prevention feature mentioned abovewherein cut/copy/paste operations 510 are disabled for all or designatedapplications on the handheld mobile device 100. As an illustration, evenif the forwarding between applications or services is disabled, adetermined user may copy messages from one application 500, compose anew message in a different application 520 and send it through thedifferent application 520. Disabling cut/copy/paste operations makesthis much more difficult for the user to siphon data because they wouldbe forced to retype the entire message or data.

FIG. 10 illustrates a data transfer prevention feature mentioned abovewherein Inter-Process Communication (IPC) 710 can be disabled betweenapplications (700, 720) that operate on a mobile device 100. As is knownto one skilled in the art, an application may initiate one or moreprocesses in order to accomplish certain tasks on the handheld mobiledevice 100. This data transfer prevention feature would prevent twomalicious applications (700, 720) working together to siphon data. As anexample, one application 700 could open up a connection inside thefirewall, and another application 720 could open a connection outsidethe firewall. Then using IPC 710, they could transfer data between thetwo applications (700, 720) and effectively siphon data. Disabling IPCbetween the applications (700, 720) prevents this type of attack fromoccurring.

The data transfer prevention provided by a data transfer checker 202would inadvertently prohibit IPC between an e-mail program and anaddress book that are operating on the mobile device 100. Thus, acompany can additionally choose which applications are allowed to useIPC, as some applications, such as the e-mail program and the addressbook, may have a valid use for it.

The systems and methods disclosed herein are presented only by way ofexample and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Othervariations of the systems and methods described above will be apparentto those skilled in the art and as such are considered to be within thescope of the invention. For example, a system and method can beconfigured to include the following. A data transfer checker operatingon a mobile device determines whether an attempted data transfer betweentwo locations is permitted. If it is not permitted, then the datatransfer is prevented and the user may be notified of the data transferprevention.

As another example of a system and method, a system and method canreceive a data transfer request to transfer data from a first locationto a second location, wherein the first location is more secure than thesecond location. Data transfer settings are retrieved from a data storeresponsive to receiving the data transfer request. The data transfersettings indicate whether a data transfer is to occur based upon asecurity-related aspect associated with the data transfer. The datatransfer settings are used to determine whether to transfer the datafrom the first location to the second location based upon the datatransfer settings. The data is transferred responsive to the determiningstep.

A system and method may be configured to consider one or more differentdata transfer security-related aspects, such as level of securityassociated with the destination of the data transfer. As other examples,a security related aspect can include the type of communicationoperation to be performed between the first location and the secondlocation such as the type of communication to occur. The type of datatransfer operation could include data forwarding between service books,opening an internal and an external connection, an Inter-ProcessCommunication (IPC) between applications, and/or a cut-copy-paste typeoperation between applications.

As another example, the systems and methods disclosed herein may be usedwith many different computers and devices, such as a wireless mobilecommunications device shown in FIG. 11. With reference to FIG. 11, themobile device 100 is a dual-mode mobile device and includes atransceiver 811, a microprocessor 838, a display 822, non-volatilememory 824, random access memory (RAM) 826, one or more auxiliaryinput/output (I/O) devices 828, a serial port 830, a keyboard 832, aspeaker 834, a microphone 836, a short-range wireless communicationssub-system 840, and other device sub-systems 842.

The transceiver 811 includes a receiver 812, a transmitter 814, antennas816 and 818, one or more local oscillators 813, and a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 820. The antennas 816 and 818 may be antenna elements ofa multiple-element antenna, and are preferably embedded antennas.However, the systems and methods described herein are in no wayrestricted to a particular type of antenna, or even to wirelesscommunication devices.

The mobile device 100 is preferably a two-way communication devicehaving voice and data communication capabilities. Thus, for example, themobile device 100 may communicate over a voice network, such as any ofthe analog or digital cellular networks, and may also communicate over adata network. The voice and data networks are depicted in FIG. 11 by thecommunication tower 819. These voice and data networks may be separatecommunication networks using separate infrastructure, such as basestations, network controllers, etc., or they may be integrated into asingle wireless network.

The transceiver 811 is used to communicate with the network 819, andincludes the receiver 812, the transmitter 814, the one or more localoscillators 813 and the DSP 820. The DSP 820 is used to send and receivesignals to and from the transceivers 816 and 818, and also providescontrol information to the receiver 812 and the transmitter 814. If thevoice and data communications occur at a single frequency, orclosely-spaced sets of frequencies, then a single local oscillator 813may be used in conjunction with the receiver 812 and the transmitter814. Alternatively, if different frequencies are utilized for voicecommunications versus data communications for example, then a pluralityof local oscillators 813 can be used to generate a plurality offrequencies corresponding to the voice and data networks 819.Information, which includes both voice and data information, iscommunicated to and from the transceiver 811 via a link between the DSP820 and the microprocessor 838.

The detailed design of the transceiver 811, such as frequency band,component selection, power level, etc., will be dependent upon thecommunication network 819 in which the mobile device 100 is intended tooperate. For example, a mobile device 100 intended to operate in a NorthAmerican market may include a transceiver 811 designed to operate withany of a variety of voice communication networks, such as the Mobitex orDataTAC mobile data communication networks, AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, PCS, etc.,whereas a mobile device 100 intended for use in Europe may be configuredto operate with the GPRS data communication network and the GSM voicecommunication network. Other types of data and voice networks, bothseparate and integrated, may also be utilized with a mobile device 100.

Depending upon the type of network or networks 819, the accessrequirements for the mobile device 100 may also vary. For example, inthe Mobitex and DataTAC data networks, mobile devices are registered onthe network using a unique identification number associated with eachmobile device. In GPRS data networks, however, network access isassociated with a subscriber or user of a mobile device. A GPRS devicetypically requires a subscriber identity module (“SIM”), which isrequired in order to operate a mobile device on a GPRS network. Local ornon-network communication functions (if any) may be operable, withoutthe SIM device, but a mobile device will be unable to carry out anyfunctions involving communications over the data network 819, other thanany legally required operations, such as ‘911’ emergency calling.

After any required network registration or activation procedures havebeen completed, the mobile device 100 may the send and receivecommunication signals, including both voice and data signals, over thenetworks 819. Signals received by the antenna 816 from the communicationnetwork 819 are routed to the receiver 812, which provides for signalamplification, frequency down conversion, filtering, channel selection,etc., and may also provide analog to digital conversion. Analog todigital conversion of the received signal allows more complexcommunication functions, such as digital demodulation and decoding to beperformed using the DSP 820. In a similar manner, signals to betransmitted to the network 819 are processed, including modulation andencoding, for example, by the DSP 820 and are then provided to thetransmitter 814 for digital to analog conversion, frequency upconversion, filtering, amplification and transmission to thecommunication network 819 via the antenna 818.

In addition to processing the communication signals, the DSP 820 alsoprovides for transceiver control. For example, the gain levels appliedto communication signals in the receiver 812 and the transmitter 814 maybe adaptively controlled through automatic gain control algorithmsimplemented in the DSP 820. Other transceiver control algorithms couldalso be implemented in the DSP 820 in order to provide moresophisticated control of the transceiver 811.

The microprocessor 838 preferably manages and controls the overalloperation of the mobile device 100. Many types of microprocessors ormicrocontrollers could be used here, or, alternatively, a single DSP 820could be used to carry out the functions of the microprocessor 838.Low-level communication functions, including at least data and voicecommunications, are performed through the DSP 820 in the transceiver811. Other, high-level communication applications, such as a voicecommunication application 824A, and a data communication application824B may be stored in the non-volatile memory 824 for execution by themicroprocessor 838. For example, the voice communication module 824A mayprovide a high-level user interface operable to transmit and receivevoice calls between the mobile device 100 and a plurality of other voiceor dual-mode devices via the network 819. Similarly, the datacommunication module 824B may provide a high-level user interfaceoperable for sending and receiving data, such as e-mail messages, files,organizer information, short text messages, etc., between the mobiledevice 100 and a plurality of other data devices via the networks 819.

The microprocessor 838 also interacts with other device subsystems, suchas the display 822, the RAM 826, the auxiliary input/output (I/O)subsystems 828, the serial port 830, the keyboard 832, the speaker 834,the microphone 836, the short-range communications subsystem 840 and anyother device subsystems generally designated as 842.

Some of the subsystems shown in FIG. 11 perform communication-relatedfunctions, whereas other subsystems may provide “resident” or on-devicefunctions. Notably, some subsystems, such as the keyboard 832 and thedisplay 822 may be used for both communication-related functions, suchas entering a text message for transmission over a data communicationnetwork, and device-resident functions such as a calculator or task listor other PDA type functions.

Operating system software used by the microprocessor 838 is preferablystored in a persistent store such as non-volatile memory 824. Thenon-volatile memory 824 may be implemented, for example, as a Flashmemory component, or as battery backed-up RAM. In addition to theoperating system, which controls low-level functions of the mobiledevice 810, the non-volatile memory 824 includes a plurality of softwaremodules 824A-824N that can be executed by the microprocessor 838 (and/orthe DSP 820), including a voice communication module 824A, a datacommunication module 824B, and a plurality of other operational modules824N for carrying out a plurality of other functions. These modules areexecuted by the microprocessor 838 and provide a high-level interfacebetween a user and the mobile device 100. This interface typicallyincludes a graphical component provided through the display 822, and aninput/output component provided through the auxiliary I/O 828, keyboard832, speaker 834, and microphone 836. The operating system, specificdevice applications or modules, or parts thereof, may be temporarilyloaded into a volatile store, such as RAM 826 for faster operation.Moreover, received communication signals may also be temporarily storedto RAM 826, before permanently writing them to a file system located ina persistent store such as the Flash memory 824.

An exemplary application module 824N that may be loaded onto the mobiledevice 100 is a personal information manager (PIM) application providingPDA functionality, such as calendar events, appointments, and taskitems. This module 824N may also interact with the voice communicationmodule 824A for managing phone calls, voice mails, etc., and may alsointeract with the data communication module for managing e-mailcommunications and other data transmissions. Alternatively, all of thefunctionality of the voice communication module 824A and the datacommunication module 824B may be integrated into the PIM module.

The non-volatile memory 824 preferably also provides a file system tofacilitate storage of PIM data items on the device. The PIM applicationpreferably includes the ability to send and receive data items, eitherby itself, or in conjunction with the voice and data communicationmodules 824A, 824B, via the wireless networks 819. The PIM data itemsare preferably seamlessly integrated, synchronized and updated, via thewireless networks 819, with a corresponding set of data items stored orassociated with a host computer system, thereby creating a mirroredsystem for data items associated with a particular user.

Context objects representing at least partially decoded data items, aswell as fully decoded data items, are preferably stored on the mobiledevice 100 in a volatile and non-persistent store such as the RAM 826.Such information may instead be stored in the non-volatile memory 824,for example, when storage intervals are relatively short, such that theinformation is removed from memory soon after it is stored. However,storage of this information in the RAM 826 or another volatile andnon-persistent store is preferred, in order to ensure that theinformation is erased from memory when the mobile device 100 losespower. This prevents an unauthorized party from obtaining any storeddecoded or partially decoded information by removing a memory chip fromthe mobile device 100, for example.

The mobile device 100 may be manually synchronized with a host system byplacing the device 100 in an interface cradle, which couples the serialport 830 of the mobile device 100 to the serial port of a computersystem or device. The serial port 830 may also be used to enable a userto set preferences through an external device or software application,or to download other application modules 824N for installation. Thiswired download path may be used to load an encryption key onto thedevice, which is a more secure method than exchanging encryptioninformation via the wireless network 819. Interfaces for other wireddownload paths may be provided in the mobile device 100, in addition toor instead of the serial port 830. For example, a USB port would providean interface to a similarly equipped personal computer.

Additional application modules 824N may be loaded onto the mobile device100 through the networks 819, through an auxiliary I/O subsystem 828,through the serial port 830, through the short-range communicationssubsystem 840, or through any other suitable subsystem 842, andinstalled by a user in the non-volatile memory 824 or RAM 826. Suchflexibility in application installation increases the functionality ofthe mobile device 100 and may provide enhanced on-device functions,communication-related functions, or both. For example, securecommunication applications may enable electronic commerce functions andother such financial transactions to be performed using the mobiledevice 100.

When the mobile device 100 is operating in a data communication mode, areceived signal, such as a text message or a web page download, isprocessed by the transceiver module 811 and provided to themicroprocessor 838, which preferably further processes the receivedsignal in multiple stages as described above, for eventual output to thedisplay 822, or, alternatively, to an auxiliary I/O device 828. A userof mobile device 100 may also compose data items, such as e-mailmessages, using the keyboard 832, which is preferably a completealphanumeric keyboard laid out in the QWERTY style, although otherstyles of complete alphanumeric keyboards such as the known DVORAK stylemay also be used. User input to the mobile device 100 is furtherenhanced with a plurality of auxiliary I/O devices 828, which mayinclude a thumbwheel input device, a touchpad, a variety of switches, arocker input switch, etc. The composed data items input by the user maythen be transmitted over the communication networks 819 via thetransceiver module 811.

When the mobile device 100 is operating in a voice communication mode,the overall operation of the mobile device is substantially similar tothe data mode, except that received signals are preferably be output tothe speaker 834 and voice signals for transmission are generated by amicrophone 836. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as avoice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on the mobiledevice 100. Although voice or audio signal output is preferablyaccomplished primarily through the speaker 834, the display 822 may alsobe used to provide an indication of the identity of a calling party, theduration of a voice call, or other voice call related information. Forexample, the microprocessor 838, in conjunction with the voicecommunication module and the operating system software, may detect thecaller identification information of an incoming voice call and displayit on the display 822.

A short-range communications subsystem 840 is also included in themobile device 100. The subsystem 840 may include an infrared device andassociated circuits and components, or a short-range RF communicationmodule such as a Bluetooth™ module or an 802.11 module, for example, toprovide for communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that “Bluetooth” and “802.11”refer to sets of specifications, available from the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers, relating to wireless personal areanetworks and wireless local area networks, respectively.

The systems' and methods' data may be stored in one or more data stores.The data stores can be of many different types of storage devices andprogramming constructs, such as RAM, ROM, Flash memory, programming datastructures, programming variables, etc. It is noted that data structuresdescribe formats for use in organizing and storing data in databases,programs, memory, or other computer-readable media for use by a computerprogram.

The systems and methods may be provided on many different types ofcomputer-readable media including computer storage mechanisms (e.g.,CD-ROM, diskette, RAM, flash memory, computer's hard drive, etc.) thatcontain instructions for use in execution by a processor to perform themethods' operations and implement the systems described herein.

The computer components, software modules, functions and data structuresdescribed herein may be connected directly or indirectly to each otherin order to allow the flow of data needed for their operations. It isalso noted that a module or processor includes but is not limited to aunit of code that performs a software operation, and can be implementedfor example as a subroutine unit of code, or as a software function unitof code, or as an object (as in an object-oriented paradigm), or as anapplet, or in a computer script language, or as another type of computercode. The software components and/or functionality may be located on asingle computing device or distributed across multiple computing devicesdepending upon the situation at hand.

1. A method of handling data transfers on a device, comprising:receiving a data transfer request to transfer data from a first locationto a second location; wherein the first location is more secure than thesecond location; retrieving data transfer settings from a data storeresponsive to receiving the data transfer request; wherein the datatransfer settings indicate whether a data transfer is to occur basedupon a security-related aspect associated with the data transfer;determining whether to transfer the data from the first location to thesecond location based upon the data transfer settings; wherein the datais transferred responsive to the determining step.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the data transfer security-related aspect includes anaspect selected from the group comprising: level of security associatedwith destination of the data transfer; type of communication operationto be performed between the first location and the second location; andcombinations thereof; wherein the type of data transfer communicationoperation includes an operation selected from the group comprising: dataforwarding between service books; opening an internal and an externalconnection; an Inter-Process Communication (IPC) between applications; acut-copy-paste type operation between applications; and combinationsthereof; wherein a notification is provided to a user interface of thedevice to indicate that the data transfer request was not completedbecause of the determining step.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving the data transfer settings from an administrator;and storing the data transfer settings in a data store, responsive toreceiving the data transfer settings from the administrator.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first location is a first application,and the second location is a second application.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein the first location is a first service, and the secondlocation is a second service.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thefirst and second services are selected from a group of servicescomprising: a personal electronic mail service, a professionalelectronic mail service, or an instant messaging service.
 7. The methodof claim 1, wherein the determining step that is performed based uponthe data transfer settings prevents a malicious application fromsiphoning data contained inside a corporation's or government's firewallto outside the firewall.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstlocation is a first memory associated with the device, and the secondlocation is a second memory located on another device.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first location and second location correspond tocompanies or governments that have different types of networks withdifferent levels of security.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein thedevice is a mobile wireless communications device.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the data transfer settings are configured to preventdata transfers using Inter-Process Communications (IPC).
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein a company or government that owns the device setsthe data transfer settings to choose which applications are permitted touse IPC for data transfers.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the datatransfer settings indicate what data transfers are permitted and whichdata transfers are not permitted.
 14. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving updated data transfer settings from an informationtechnology (IT) administrator; and replacing the data transfer settingsin the data store located on the device with the updated data transfersettings.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the IT administrator of acompany or government that owns the device customizes the data transfersettings in accordance with the company's or government's policyrequirements.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the IT administratorprovides the same settings to multiple devices owned by the company orthe government, thereby ensuring that company or government mobiledevices adhere to a consistent IT policy.
 17. The method of claim 14,wherein the IT administrator can specify at least data transfer settingsselected from one or more of the following policies: whether dataforwarding between service books should be allowed; whethercut-copy-paste operations between applications should be allowed;whether applications should be prevented from opening an internal and anexternal connection; whether Inter-Process Communication (IPC) should beallowed between applications; and combinations thereof.
 18. Computersoftware stored on one or more computer readable media, the computersoftware comprising program code for carrying out a method according toclaim
 1. 19. A data transfer apparatus for transferring data on a devicefrom a first location to a second location, the apparatus comprising: adata store that stores data transfer settings; wherein the data transfersettings indicate whether a data transfer is to occur based upon asecurity-related aspect associated with the data transfer; a datatransfer checker that is configured to retrieve data transfer settingsfrom the data store responsive to the device receiving a request totransfer data from the first location to the second location; whereinthe data transfer checker is configured to prevent the request frombeing performed responsive to the data transfer settings.
 20. A datatransfer system for transferring data on a wireless mobilecommunications device from a first location to a second location, thesystem comprising: means for receiving a data transfer request totransfer data from a first location to a second location; wherein thefirst location is more secure than the second location; means forretrieving data transfer settings from a data store responsive toreceiving the data transfer request; wherein the data store is locatedon the wireless mobile communications device; wherein the data transfersettings indicate whether a data transfer is to occur based upon asecurity-related aspect associated with the data transfer; wherein thedata transfer is a transfer selected from the group comprising: dataforwarding between service books; a cut-copy-paste operation betweenapplications; applications opening an internal and an externalconnection; IPC (interprocess communication) between applications; meansfor determining whether to transfer the data from the first location tothe second location based upon the data transfer settings; wherein thedata is transferred responsive to the determining of whether to transferthe data from the first location to the second location based upon thedata transfer settings.